Mark Thomas: 100 Acts Of Minor Dissent

Comedians have, for a long time now, been smart, informed individuals who find a way to deliver bad news to audiences while also making them laugh at the absurdity of the world around us. Mark Thomas is smarter and more informed than most, and I've had the pleasure of being familiar with his work for many years (I first experienced his mind-expanding blend of comedy and social issues when he was on TV with The Mark Thomas Comedy Product).

For anyone reading the subtitle and worrying about Mr. Thomas slowing down from his more passionate, more active days, then stop worrying right now. Although the show is entitled "100 Acts Of Minor Dissent" there is nothing minor about the show itself and the ideology and progressive thinking put forward is just as impressive as it ever has been. It's all about knowing your rights, doing what you can to help independent businesses and business owners and engaging in any activities that could lead to positive change for communities all around the country.

I digress. Wait, no I don't. You can't discuss any comedy involving Mark Thomas without discussing the causes he has aligned himself with over the years. I still have such fond memories of him educating schoolchildren about the sweatshops that helped make many of their trainers before getting the number of a CEO (the company was either Nike or Adidas, I think) and allowing all of the kids to call up and leave a message on the guy's answering machine. Or the appeal for people to make their own movies on CCTV and claim their own footage back (I believe it may cost a small fee, but IS always available to you under the Data Protection Act). And much more.

As well as being a bloody funny guy, Mark Thomas has been a personal hero of mine for well over a decade. Seeing him live, at long last, was like ticking something off my 'bucket list', albeit a bucket list full of small and safe things I kinda hope to do in my life as opposed to skydiving and shit. Yes, I admit that I felt a small amount of regret that this was an older and slightly mellower man that I was seeing. I wondered if that rage would still appear, if the audience would be fired up as they seemed to be when I'd seen Thomas on TV in the past.

Perhaps he has mellowed slightly, but perhaps not. Yes, there is certainly a gentler, safer and more entertaining coating to the anarchy he now encourages (I REALLY want to have a go at book heckling . . . . . . . you'll either know what I'm on about or you can feel free to ask). But if you think this is a man who no longer gets angry as he used to, just wait until you hear him explain the reasoning behind wewilldrivethemtotheairport.co.uk and/or complain about OAPs wearing designer trainers.

This man hasn't mellowed, he's just managed to find better ways to sugarcoat the pill over the years. I just hope that more people allow themselves to both enjoy what Mark Thomas offers up, and also think about it long after this one-hour show is over.

****

The main Mark Thomas website is here.

Buy tickets for the show here, you won't regret it.

Image: markthomasinfo.co.uk

Morgan And West: A Grand Adventure

Morgan and West are time-travelling, Victorian magicians and all-round good eggs. I had the pleasure to catch a clip of their act last year in Edinburgh at the fantastic Forth On The Fringe and so, while wandering the High Street with my daughter a few days ago, was delighted to take one of their cards and find out that they had a show on that very afternoon. I bought tickets and killed some time until my daughter and I headed along to enjoy an hour of magic, thrills and comedy.

Let me start by saying how much I enjoy the style of Morgan and West. They are both likeable, witty and talented men. All-round good eggs, funnily enough. A Grand Adventure sees disaster strike the pair when they lose their big book of secrets and have to travel to the ends of the earth, facing many dangers along the way, to recover it. The story, and the humour contained in many of the set-pieces, is a delight and the staging is perfect - the duo making the most of a sparse set that has all they need while easily setting the scene for imaginative audience members. The magic, unfortunately, isn't always such a delight.

An opening sequence about misdirection and manipulation is a real treat, clever and funny and very impressive, but it's a highlight in a show that constantly fails to dress up the simple mechanics on display in, ironically, a more distracting fashion.

I am neither as talented or dexterous or as smart as these gentlemen, but I knew how a number of the bigger effects were achieved (especially a lengthy routine that involved Mr. Morgan tied up in a sack, but also most of the teashop trickery) and there were some that I didn't even care about by the time of the reveal. Yes, sirs, I'm on about the cracking of the safe.

I'm not saying that the show was bad, because it wasn't, but I was saddened by the fact that many of the tricks were based on principles so simple that I'd read up on them as a teenager. Thankfully, the humour and quirky nature of the characters makes up for a lot. There's also a superbly funny bit involving lots of sugar, an impressive encounter with a famous thief and some fun audience participation (note: if you don't want to be involved then don't sit in the first few rows).

I encourage people to see Morgan And West, despite my average rating for this show, and I'd also encourage people to buy one of their tea towels (they do sell them, they may even mention it during the show), but I know that they are capable of much finer magic than the tricks used in A Grand Adventure. The fact that many moments do, however, feel like a grand adventure is jolly spiffing indeed. Remember their names and be sure to catch them at least once when/if they perform at a venue near you.

***

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image: morganandwest.co.uk

n.b. - all ratings for live shows use the standard 5-star system

Some of the rest of the fest (a Top 10, if you like).

This is by no means any kind of comprehensive overview of the acts appearing just now in Edinburgh but it is a small selection of shows and names that I have seen, heard and give a thumbs up to.

The place to go is HERE for a more in-depth browse and all of your ticket purchases. Oh, and your first port of call should, of course, be the three shows that I was able to review recently after loving each and every one of them. Anyway, here are 10 acts/shows that I think you should check out for a variety of reasons. This "top 10" is in no particular order, it's just 10 recommendations because 10 is a nice, round number and I don't want to overstretch myself.

1) Jim Jefferies - I managed to catch a bit of Jim Jefferies when I attended Forth On The Fringe last Friday at The Playhouse and he's as wonderfully crude and sharp as ever. If you're a fan of his then check out his latest show, Fully Functional. If you're not a fan of his yet but like comedy from someone unflinching then check out his latest show, Fully Functional.

2) Camille O'Sullivan - The darling of the Festival music scene is back for only a few nights this time around. But I've heard that any evening spent listening to Miss O'Sullivan is an evening to treasure.

3) Felicity Ward - I had never heard of this woman before last Friday evening (she was also part of the Forth On The Fringe set) but I'm now a fan.

4) Then we have THESE guys. LAN-T003. Maybe a friend of mine has been helping them, mayyyyyyyybe.

5) Michael Winslow. Yes, the man of 1001 sounds is back in Edinburgh. Best know to fans of the Police Academy movies, Winslow is a huge talent. Make a double-bill of this man and Tom Thum and you have a cacophony of sounds you'll never have thought possible from the human voicebox.

6) The Ladyboys Of Bangkok. Now, I know that you may snigger and say "yeah, yeah, right Kevin" when I tell you that I've not seen this show yet in all the years that it has been coming to Edinburgh. But it's true. What else is true is that I have been keen to see it for a long time, apparently this group of performers can put on one helluva show.

7) Fans of the written word will definitely want to take their pick from the many wonderful opportunities that arise at the Edinburgh International Book Festival.

8) Jerry Sadowitz. A supremely accomplished magician and also, most probably (surely?), a diagnosed psycopath. If you're brave enough then go along and see how quickly Sadowitz can offend you.

9) Tim Vine. Okay, so I've never seen Tim Vine in an actual live show but I've seen enough of his schtick to know that he's a personal hero of mine. I love him, mainly because he'll never pass up the opportunity for a great (or even awful) pun. He returns in 2012 with The Tim Vine Chat Show. If you don't have fun then I'll cut all of my hair off, bake it in a pie and then eat it. With no added sauce.

10) Oh, there's also something going on every night that ends with fireworks going off. It's usually already sold out by now but you can test your luck here.

Appointment With The Wicker Man.

With a mix of the very clever, the very stupid and the very excellent film that IS The Wicker Man, Appointment With The Wicker Man is a fantastic blend of comedic performances, occasional tension and one or two inappropriate musical numbers changing the entire mood of the piece.

The whole premise for this show is set up for you as soon as you enter the venue and are handed The Programme (The Loch Parry Players Present The Whicker Man). Along with a synopsis of the main event, you can pore over the history of The Loch Parry Players, read bios of the latest line-up and also enjoy some local adverts printed on the back page (my particular favourite one being for the Loch Parry Singles "Meet at the NCP Car Park - every Thursday midnight").

Yes, it's a play within a play structure as you get to watch a comedy about The Loch Parry Players and their attempt to put on an impressive stage version of The Wicker Man. Sadly, nobody in the main cast has actually seen the film. One cast member got bored and switched it off before the end while another claims to have seen it and loved it and then mentions how much she loves Nicolas Cage. Things do not bode well for the production, especially with the company thinking that one or two more "Glee-like" numbers always help to rouse the audience they expect to be playing to. Things also seem to be looking bleak for newcomer Rory Mulligan (played by Sean Biggerstaff), a proper actor, he's been on the telly and everything, who becomes more and more tired of the amateur errors around him and also grows more curious about the mysterious disappearance of the actor he replaced, Roger Morgan. There are times when Rory can focus on playing Sergeant Howie and perform his search for missing Rowan Morrison but there are times when the lines blur too easily and Sergeant Howie/Rory starts to ask about the missing Roger Morgan.

If the above sounds a bit complicated then, at times, it is. But it's only complicated when you start to pick it all apart and look at the parallels between this play and the play within the play and the movie that it takes inspiration from. And when you do pick it all apart while watching the story unfold it provides plenty of rewards. It's very meta at times but it also has plenty of easy laughs, a superb cast giving great physical performances and a script that I would happily purchase in paperback form. And there are a number of tracks from the soundtrack of the movie used so if you're a fan of those strange and wonderful sounds, as I am, then that's another big plus.

Vicky Featherstone directs, from a script written by star Greg Hemphill and Donald McLeary, and the cast, as well as Biggerstaff and Mr. Hemphill, includes Jimmy Chisolm, Johnny McKnight, Sally Reid, Paul Riley and Rosalind Sydney. You may recognise a few faces or you may not but the only thing that matters is how they fit into their roles in this production and I can easily say that everyone is fantastic.

There's even an actual wicker man that makes an appearance, albeit one not actually made of wicker, and there's a finale that takes a number of twists and turns before turning in to a Grade A, full-on, crowd-pleaser. It's a shame that it takes a little while to get to the better ideas, and there are a few sideroads that just keep it from being a 5-star experience, but if you ever wanted to see a stage show that mixed The Wicker Man with The League Of Gentlemen with the "Once More, With Feeling" episode of Buffy The Vampire Slayer then this is for you. I'm certainly glad that I kept my own Appointment With The Wicker Man.

****

http://www.edfringe.com/whats-on/theatre/appointment-with-the-wicker-man

Tom Thum - Beating The Habit.

He may have first come to the attention of many people as a member of Tom Tom Crew but Tom Thum easily wins over any audience and shows just how well he can hold a show on his own in this solo . . . . . . . . . extravaganza.

If you think that beatboxing is all about JUST drum noises backing up some rap lyrics or if you think that vocal effects have been taken to their very limits by someone like the excellent Michael Winslow then I urge you to check out this astoundingly talented young man.

I've heard people pretend to scratch and mix records before but I've never heard anyone who could make me REALLY hear the vinyl and the needle crossing that surface while the tune is being created. I've heard people create impressive bass before but I've never heard anyone who created a bassline that shook through my entire body. I've heard bagpipes before but never someone trying to sound like bagpipes . . . . . . . . . . and a T-Rex at the same time (a result of a moment in which Tom accepts challenges from the audience to recreate a variety of sounds).

I was really, really tempted to find another online clip of this man and put it in this review but, to be honest, that just wouldn't be fair (ohhh, okay, I couldn't resist putting a link in below because it's one of the many highlights). With an audience that seemed to range from 6 - 60, I advise you to just accept that you will have a good, albeit loud, time and to go along for something unique and feelgood from start to finish. In fact, I suspect that only good manners prevented the star from naming his show "Aural Sex" because the audience certainly emanated a rosy afterglow feeling as they left the venue.

It may be stretching it a little bit to say that this is a show to unequivocally recommend to everyone but it's certainly a show that you may even enjoy even if the thought of the musical style (all done with the vocal stylings of Tom Thum, even if it often sounds like he has a whole set of synthesisers backing him up) doesn't seem all that appealing to you.

The musical moments, which make up most of the act, will have you ready to get up and dance but there are also plenty of laughs in the show. Whether it's Tom trying to sell people his Box Of Beats or the "harrowing" look at the pain caused by a beatbox obsession, there was plenty to get even the most cynical audience member laughing along with everyone else.

Go along, have fun, LOVE the music and then make sure to stop by outside and by a CD. Because a great beatboxer is for life, not just for The Fringe.

*****

http://www.edfringe.com/whats-on/music/tom-thum-beating-the-habit

Re-Animator: The Musical.

Well, I review movies on this here blog and I sometimes rant about things that pop into my head but I've never really considered this space a viable option for other materials to be pored over. As far as I can recall, I've not included any book reviews here (I'd be terrible at that, just ask any of my old English teachers), no album dissections and no stage shows. Oh, I may have mentioned events going on around me and things that I have visited but I don't think I've ever gone into detail.

With the Edinburgh Fringe gathering speed I began to wonder just what good it would do me to review anything that I saw this year. Surely, these shows will have been and gone by the time that people read my li'l attempt to praise or criticise them? But then I realised that I'd been fortunate enough to see a number of shows at the very start of this busy time. Not only that, a lot of these acts go elsewhere after the material has been well-received in Edinburgh. Maybe I can help in my own little way by recommending some favourites. And it also helps me to write a little bit more about Edinburgh, in general.

Don't worry, I'm not about to start reviewing absolutely everything I do in life (meals in restaurants, drinks in clubs, etc) but I DO think that shows are something I can comment on. I'm no expert (but, then again, I am no expert on movies and that's never stopped me before now) but I'll try to mix in as much information with my opinion as possible.

Which brings us to the first review of this kind that I've ever written and, indeed, it's the main reason that I finally caved in after arguing with myself about including stage fare here. Re-Animator: The Musical. When I heard that it was showing here in Edinburgh I knew that I had to see it. In case you weren't aware of the fact, I am a huge fan of Re-Animator. Director Stuart Gordon created something I will always love. And now, in a very different way, he's done it again.

Yes, Stuart Gordon is the director once more and the music and lyrics are by Mark Nutter. Between them, these men have taken the elements that fans love about Re-Animator and crafted something that just shouldn't work but really, REALLY does. It follows the movie quite closely, albeit with many more songs in the mix, and all of the best-loved lines from the movie's script are either recreated here or made into a song lyric.

The cast are exemplary. George Wendt is the most famous name among them, as far as I'm aware, but he generously makes way for the leading men to . . . . . . . . . . lead. Graham Skipper plays Herbert West and, amazingly, captures the essence of the character as we know him from the movie while also putting his own stamp on the performance. Jesse Merlin is positively channeling the spirit of David Gale in some places and is bloody superb as Dr. Hill. Chris L. McKenna and Rachel Avery, playing Dan and Megan, respectively, were both great. I even almost forgot about Barbara Crampton while watching this new incarnation of Megan. Almost.

Everything you want is here. There's zombie action with blood spraying out over the audience, that memorable sequence with the cat is here, Dr. Hill is creepy and scheming and there's more zombie action that results in more blood spraying over the audience (if you're brave enough then try to get a seat front and centre to be located in the coveted "Splash Zone"). Then there are, of course, the many songs. They're often very silly but they're also very catchy and I'd be lying if I tried to say that I hope to purchase a CD with accompanying lyric-covered liner notes.

I still like to give my movies ratings out of 10, just for my own personal preference, but I can change things slightly for stage shows and use a 5-star system (not to be confused with the 5-Star system, which is based on the lyrics of System Addict). Yep, sometimes even I can be traditional.

*****

And here is the website for all of your information/purchases.

August In Edinburgh.

It's that time of the year again, The Fringe is happening. The Fringe then mutates into the full Festival, which also incorporates our wonderful Book Festival here in Edinburgh.

And I am stuck in a day job that will get busier and busier (I work in a hotel and this is a peak period for hotels). I like my job. Well, to be fair, I have times when I hate my job. Believe me, if I could set up some Kickstarter scheme to allow me to watch and review movies 7 days a week then I would jump on it like an unconscious Mary Elizabeth Winstead (or, indeed, like some other more important and legally sound imagery). But, in general, I have a lot of things to enjoy. My workmates are a bit mad and they put up with me being . . . . . . . . more than a bit mad. I also get some nice coffees.

Where was I? Rambling, as usual. The point I was trying to make was that a lot of people in Edinburgh who live and work here all year round just end up hating the Festival time. That's just sad.

This is a beautiful city and it's busy most of the year. Yet it's never more vibrant and paradoxically draining (physically AND financially) and rewarding than it is during this time of year.

My wife and I already went along on Friday night to Radio Forth On The Fringe 2012 and enjoyed a number of great acts, one of them I had to rush out and get tickets for the very next day (yes Tom Thum, I mean YOU). It was mainly comedy, yes, but there was also music and magic and even some risky stunts from the impressive and amusing Tumble Circus.

Then on Saturday I took my daughter to the circus, one based at Ocean Terminal this year, and had a great time. I overspent, I've seen better and the portaloos were already stinking to high heaven but I got to ogle exotic women and enjoy some great acrobatic displays before being dragged up to take part in a physical comedy routine. When I went back to my seat, to compliments from other parents and at least one high five, I was a STAR! Okay, I was only a star to my daughter and the others in that big top who were relieved that they hadn't been picked but a moment of stardom is a moment of stardom. I'll take what I can get and The Festival hands out such moments with a wonderful regularity and a lack of concern for sex, sexuality, race, monetary value or social standing.

That Tom Thum show at the Underbelly (I think) is on Tuesday. I am taking a friend and am determined to enjoy the evening. Beforehand, I am going to see An Appointment With The Wicker Man at The Assembly Rooms and after those main events I may even try to catch one or two free shows from the huge selection that makes up the superb PBH's Free Fringe.

Basically, I am going to try and make the most of this most wonderful time of year. As I do every year. I encourage others to do the same. Yes, it gets harder to move along the streets. Yes, bus journeys can take double the amount of time. Yes, prices are bumped up in many places. Yes, there is plenty of shit to avoid while searching for the good stuff. It's not supposed to be easy, it's supposed to be worth some effort. And, let me assure you, it most definitely bloody IS.